Card sorting device



March 21, 1950 c, BEFiGsTEN E 2,501,492

CARD SORTING DEVICE Filed July 20, 1944 4 Sheets-Sheet l f 720085717.- C/zczrZes fl. fier gakn Zewzs 61707295. i Wm 9% March 21, 1950 c. A. BERGSTEN mm. 2,501,492

CARD SORTING DEVICE Filed July 20, 1944 v 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 'c. A. BERGSTEN ET AL March 21, 1950 CARD SORTING DEVICE 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 742 -10 C-C-B Filed July 20, 1944 :EEE

March 21, 1950 c. A. BERGSTEN ETAL 2,501,492

CARD SORTING DEVICE Filed July 20, 1944 4 Sheets-Sheet. 4

5 M 1h I 7 Patented Mar. 21, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT orrrcia Jones, Western Springs, 111., assignors to Dlttm. In rp r Chi o, 1 a or ra i n f:

West Virginia Application July 20, 1944, Serial No. 545346 3 Claims. 1

The present invention relates-to card sorting devices of the type wherein an operator may, by the manipulation of suitably designated keys, separate one card or a plurality of cards-from a large group in accordance with sorting designations provided on the cards. Card sorting devices of this character are particularly useful in selecting cards that have to be kept and used from time to time for various record and index purposes.

It is the principal purpose of this invention to provide a selective card sorting device of the character referred to wherein the operation of the sorting keys results in the removal or-lifting of the unwanted cards, leaving onlythose desired in their original position. i

It is also a purpose of this invention to provide a mechanism of this character with a simple operating means whereby the sorting keys or bars are individually locked in actuated position but may all be released instantly at the endof the sorting by one single movement.

It is a further purpose of this invention to provide a novel mechanism, including sorting bars and means for actuating them, in a card sorting device of the character described.

Other features and advantages of the invention will appear more fully as the description proceeds, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred form of the invention is shown. It is to be understood however that the drawings and description are illustrative only and are not to be taken as limiting the invention except insofar as it is limited by the claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view through a card sorting device embodying our invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the card sorting device;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; v

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating the position of the raised bar and the latching mechanism therefor;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary bottom plan view partly in section of the card sorting device;

Fig. 6 is a detailed view of one of the supporting plates for the cards; and

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary detailed view of a guide plate that cooperates with the supporting plate to receive the cards and to guide the sorting bars between theirlowered and raised positions.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, and in particular to Fig. '3, this figure shows the front face of a card It of the type that are to be sortedwith thetcard sorting device embodying our-invention- Cards of this character are notched in accordance with certain identifyingindex'symbols thereon, these notches "being-- shown along. the lower edges of the cards at Ii.

an example of theseveral bases upon which a group of cards maybe selectively sorted, the cardshows an index classification under salesman, under the commodity sold; under-the cla'ss of sale, under theshippingpoint-and under the tax applicable. Thesalesman index'covers. all numbers of three digits, the commodity index covers all numbers of two digitsthe-class of sales has three branches, the shipping. point has three branches and thetax classification is according to two classes. This is merely-an exampleof a break down according-to which it might bB-IlB'GES'S'aIY to a card. For example, iiyouwanted to know something about; a sale. made byv salesman No-742 of a commodity sold inclasslo; thetype of sale being type C, the. shipping pointbeing identifiedby the letter C and the. taxbeingof the B type, you would ibelooldnglfor a card: havingthe. notches ll indicated inFig. 3. That is, there is one notch H under thenumeral 7 in the first series of digits, another notch: under the numeral 4 in the second series of digits. and, a thirdnotch under the muneral 2111 the thirdseries of digits. Under the commodity classification thereisa notch under the numeral 1 but there is no othernotch since-the system of classification does not provide a notch where-oneof the figures a zero.- Notches iikewiseare provided under the letter 0- in the class of sale-group and: under the letter- C in the shipping point group Under the-tax classification the notch is under the letter B. It will he noted'that there isha raisedibar 41 in each of the notches mentioned hereinbefore. These bars 41 are the sorting bars. It is quite obvious that when all of the bars airezraised as indicated'in Fig. 3 only those cards loawhich-have the peculiar combination of notchescorresponding to these. bars will drop down. over 1 the. bars that are raised. All the other cards-willbe lifted/to a higher level so that they can be readily removed or segregated from thesards desired..- lf. for example, you-wantedall of thesales otsalesman No. 742 you would -;merely raise fthe bars under thesalesman selective classification. )nl'y those cards notched in theNofl lz spacesjwill drop down over the No. '742-bars. n11 other cardswill he raised A furtherselectivesor-t for. commodities, etc. .may then-hematite as outlined-above. Itis believed that the foregomgwdescripticn will roughly illustrate how the cards are notched for sorting purposes in our sorting device. The sorting device itself will now be described in detail.

The sorting device consists of a rectangular frame casting |3 having a series of supporting feet |4 thereon. The casting is provided with horizontally extendingears |5 to which the feet M are secured by screws. Theframe has two side flanges l6 and I] along the top edge thereof,

these flanges being adapted to mount certain parts of the card holding mechanism and card sorting mechanism. The front wall of the rectangular frame is reducedinheight in compari-- son with the side and rear walls, the reduction in height being mostly from the-top so that the front wall is a relatively narrow, angularly shaped section as indicated at |3F in Fig. 1. Across the top of the frame we mount a cross bar l8 and on this cross bar two side rails l9 and and a front stop 2| are fastened. The side rails and the front stop may be made of any suitable light material such as wood or plastic. The front stop 2| has a guide plate 22 thereon, the guide plate being notched with uniformly spaced notches as indicated at 23 (see Fig. 7). This guide plate functions as a means of guiding one end of the sorting bars in a manner which will be explained more fully hereinafter. It will be noted that the guide plate 22 extends all the way down to the bar |8 but that the front stop 2| is notched out as shown at 24 inback of the guide plate so that the sorting bars can extend through the notches 23 in the guide plate. The side rails l9 and 210 cooperate with the front stop 2| to support two guide rods 25 and 28. Metal clips 2'! and 28 are provided at the free ends of the rails l9 and 2|]. The rods 25 and 26 are fastened to these clips by suitable screws 29 and 30. The bars 25 and 26 have reduced threaded ends which extendthrough the front stop 2| where they receive screw caps 3| and. 32. An adjustable plate 33 is mounted for sliding movement lengthwise of the bars 25 and 26. This plate is intended to back up a series of cards In which are placedagainst the front stop 2|. The plate 33 like the guide plate 22 is provided with notches 34 in its lower edge to receive the sorting bars as they are raised. In order to frictionally oppose endwise movement of the plate on the bars 25 and 26 brackets 35.and 3B are mount;- ed on the back of the plate 33 and have bifurcated tip portions 3! and 38 fitting over the bars 25 and 26 at some distance from the plate 33. Coil springs 39 and 40 are interposed between the plate 33 and the bifurcated ends 31 and 38 of the brackets. The frictional holding is actually accomplished by the coil springs 39 and 4|] which grip the bars 25 and 2B slightly. The brackets are merely means to prevent relative movement between the plate 33 and the coil springs 39 and-40. 1

The actual supporting means for the several cards that may be held between the front stop 2| and the plate 33 comprises amultiplicity of uniformly spaced parallel sorting bars 4|. These sorting bars are individually mounted at one end by means of the notches 23 in the guide bar 22, and adjacent the other end each of thebars 4| is provided with a fixed, depending pin 42 (see Figs; 1 and 4). The .pins 42 extend downwardly through two spaced plates 43 and 44 that extend transversely of the rectangular frame. In order tohold the bars 4|yieldinglyin lowered position each bar has two springs 45.and 46 aflixed thereto, the. lower ends of the-springs. beingmounted in flanges 41 and 48 on the plate 44. With the guide pins 42 threaded through the openings in the plates 43 and 44 and the slots in the plate 22 engaging the bars 4|, the bars are accurately guided for vertical movement and are yieldingly urged downward at all times by the springs and;

Each of the bars 4| has a laterally extending pin 49thereon. This pin is for the purpose of engaging one end of an operating lever 50. There is an operating lever for each of the bars 4|.

secured to the cross bar by screws.

The several operating levers 50 are carried by bearing plates 5| that are mounted on the under surface of the cross bar Hi. The plates 5| are Each plate has a series of depending ears 52, 53, 54, 55 and 56 so arranged as to pivotally mount the levers 50 by means of pivot pins extending through the ears. It will be noted by an examination of Fig. 5 that the ears 53, 54 and 55 each has two pivot pin receivingportions so that the pivots of the several bars are staggered across the plate 5|- Also, the pins 49 are mounted at different distances from the free ends of the bars 4| to correspond to the pivotal mounting of the levers 50. Each of the levers 5|] has an upturned end portion 51 on which a key head. portion 58 is formed. The heads 58 are provided with suitable indications whereby they may be identified in accordance with the markings shown on the card It in Fig. 3. In order that the card index key informatio may be continuously displayed we mount on the stop plate 2| an information card 59 which duplicates the basic classification information on the several cards that are to be sorted. Such card may desirably be held by the screw caps 3i and 32.

In order to lock the bars 4| in raised position after they have been raised by depressing the headed ends of the levers 5|) we mount a latch bar 68 in the side walls of the frame |3. The mounting is best shown in Fig. 3. Two threaded bearing members 6| and 62 are threaded into theside walls of the frame I3. The latch bar 60 is provided with pivot pins 63 and 64 extending into the bearing members 6| and 62 so as pivotally to support the bar 60. A spring 65 is connected to the bar 60 and is then fastened to the rear wall of the frame l3 (see Fig. 5) so as to tend to pull the bar 60 toward the cross bar 43. The bar 60 has stop pins 66 thereon adapted to engage the bar 43 to limit the movement of the bar 60. An operating lever 61 is fastened to the bar 60 and has a;finger. tab 58 thereon. The purpose of the lever is to move the bar 60 in opposition to the pull of thespring 65. v

The bar 6| carries a multiplicity of individual springs 10 which are joined together along their base by an integral strip 69. The length of the springs 70 and the position of the bar 60 with respect to the sorting bars 4| is shown best in Figs. 1 and 4. The bar v6t? has notches H in the top edge thereof and the sorting bars 4| have a vertical shoulder 12 thereon so that when a bar 4| is raised from the position shown in Fig. l to the position shown in Fig. 4 the spring .10 which overlies the notch H that the bar 4| fits in will snap under the bar 4|, holding the bar in raised position against the pull of the springs- 45 and 46. Now when it is desired to release the raised bars 4| to allow them to return to their 7 of the spring'lt is pushed out far enough to slide along the shoulder 12 thus allowing the bar 4| to drop. When the lever 61 is released the spring 65 is strong enough to pull the bar 60 into the position shown in Fig. 1, bending the springs in the manner shown in Fig. 1. Thus at the end of any selecting operation the bars 4| are all restored to position to begin a new sorting operation by the mere depression of the finger tab 68.

From the foregoing description it is believed that the nature and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in this art.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as newand desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A selective sorting device for sorting a group of cards having sorting notches in one edge thereof arranged in patterns, said sorting device comprising a framework, parallel bars on said framework mounted for straight line vertical reciprocation, there being at least a bar for each selective sortingnotch in the group of cards, and adapted to form a support on which the cards may be supported by placing them with the notched edges extending transversely of the bars, individual lifting keys one for each of said bars, individual spring fingers bearing against upwardly extending faces on said bars and engageable beneath a bar when a bar is lifted to solely support it in lifted position independently of said keys, whereby one to all bars completing a pattern may be selectively raised to lift cards not having the notches of the selected pattern, said fingers comprising leaf springs, a pivoted bar carrying said springs, means urging said pivoted front stop for guiding the adjacent ends of said bars in their vertical movement, an adjustable rear stop plate mounted on said framework for engaging cards and holding them in vertical position on said bars, guide pins on the bars, and a cross member on the frame receiving said guide pins and cooperating with the guide means on said front stop to guide the bars in their vertical movement.

3, A card sorting device comprising a framework, means on the framework mounting a series of parallel sorting bars in closely spaced relation for guided vertical movement, individual levers associated with said bars to lift the same without shifting the same longitudinally of themselves, a latch bar having individual spring fingers thereon for engaging under said bars to solely support the sorting bars in raised position when said bars are lifted by one of said lifting levers, a common actuating member for causing said latch bar to release all of the spring fingers by a single movement, said sorting bars having ver tical faces thereon along which the spring fingers may slide when released from beneath the sorting bar, and means urging said latch bar into a position in which said fingers are either in engagement with said vertical faces or in sorting bar supporting position. a

' CHARLES A. BERGSTEN.

LEWIS C. JONES.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 958,337 Vogeli May 17, 1910 1,821,459 Casey Sept. 1, 1931 1,889,635 Casey NOV. 29, 1932 1,925,705 Robinson Sept. 5, 1933 2,002,807 Whitson May 28, 1935 2,090,635 Nevin Aug. 24, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 407,905 Great Britain 1932 829,953 France 1938 

